Sun Digest

SUN NEWS DIGEST

July 30, 2006

MARYLAND

Jessup prison's troubled history

A culture of laxness by some staff that led to the fatal stabbing of a correctional officer at the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup has been building for years and won't be solved easily or quickly, according to prison system administrators, officers and former inmates. pg 1a

Fells Point project proposed

Two developers are proposing a $40 million restoration and construction project for the 600 block of South Broadway, a down-on-its-luck leg of Fells Point's formerly prosperous commercial strip that includes the Broadway Market. pg 1b

Towson man killed in Iraq

Edward A. Koth of Towson, a diver on the Loyola College swim team who joined a Navy diving unit, was killed Wednesday in action in Iraq. Koth, 30, was assigned to a military unit in Baghdad that neutralized roadside bombs. pg 1b

WORLD

Rice hopeful for peace

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to the Middle East yesterday expressing optimism about prospects for ending more than two weeks of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. pg 19a

Pollution's toll on oceans

Industrial society is overdosing the oceans with basic nutrients - the nitrogen, carbon, iron and phosphorus compounds that curl out of smokestacks and tailpipes, wash into the sea from fertilized lawns and cropland, seep out of septic tanks and gush from sewer pipes. pg 20a

NATIONAL

Final votes before elections

Congress is spending its final working days before a long summer break by attending to pocketbook issues, with votes to increase the minimum wage, cut estate taxes and shore up pensions. The hope is to grab voters' attention as lawmakers set out campaigning through August, leading to a fall election with control of Congress at stake. pg 3a

Iraq opens a rift in U.S.

No military conflict in modern times - not even Vietnam - has divided Americans on partisan lines more than the war in Iraq, scholars and pollsters say. Those divisions may intensify in what is expected to be a contentious fall election. pg 3a

BUSINESS

Video gamers call this home

While the video game industry is usually associated with the West Coast, the office parks around Hunt Valley are known as a hub of talent. It's an $8.4 billion industry, expected to get even bigger with the launch of new consoles like the Xbox 360. pg 1d

SPORTS

Ravens' Ngata hits camp

After a one-day holdout, defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, the Ravens' first-round draft pick, signed a five-year, $11.9 million contract and participated in his first full-team practice. pg 1e

A&E TODAY

Whistling past the graveyard

Art Buchwald, one of America's foremost newspaper humorists for decades, has outlived the eulogies and funeral arrangements prepared for his death months ago. This summer, he's cracking jokes with friends on Martha's Vineyard, and doctors can't explain how he survived. pg 1f